DC FRIENDS
by s-lore07
Summary: Diana is beautiful, intelligent, and successful. There's no reason she should be lingering on the love she lost before she graduated college; yet when she moves into town to find Clark Kent on his knee, proposing, she realizes she isn't quite over the boy from Kansas. She's hoping their friends will help her move on, but they all need a little help figuring out life as well.


It was the biggest night of Clark's life. He was jittery with the weight of the ring in his pocket, too aware of the smell of Lois's perfume just across from him.

"He's nervous." Hal grinned over his beer. "Think he's really going to do it?"

"He's got this." Zatanna declared confidently. She ran her fingers through her long hair draped over her left shoulder. "Did he have a speech prepared, Bruce?"

"Of course he did." Bruce scoffed in return. "He wouldn't be Clark if he didn't."

"I'm sure it's beautiful." Dinah glared towards Hal before the pilot could open his mouth. She glanced towards her friend and felt a rush of excitement as Clark slid from his chair into a perfect kneel. "Look!"

"Clark?" Lois raised a brow, her smile shrinking. "Did you drop something?"

"No." He cleared his throat and moved to take her small hand in his much larger one. With the other, he pulled the ring out of his pocket. "Lois, we've been together for a few years now. It's been ups and downs, but it's all been perfect."

"It has." Her smile softened again. He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

"You can be infuriating sometimes, but I love you more for every aggravating thing you do." His thumb brushed her knuckles where he had kissed. "I want you aggravating me for the rest of my life. Will you marry me-" right then the doors to the restaurant parted and a woman, tall with hair like a changing night sky and eyes the color of sapphires, walked through. She looked around at the people, searching for someone that wasn't him. Her eyes met his, however, and he forgot what breathing was. "Diana?"

"What?" Lois jerked her hand from his grasp. "Who the hell is Diana?"

"Oh no." Dinah dropped her fork as she realized the exact time it was. Clark had taken longer than she had thought he would. And Diana, bless her heart, was just as punctual as she always had been.

"She's-" Clark fumbled helplessly, because how was he really going to explain that? Even if the beauty wasn't Diana, which he was certain she was, how could he explain having his attention taken from Lois as he asked for her hand in marriage? There was no excuse. Clark suddenly felt like he had no right to have the ring he was hiding in his left hand.

Bruce turned to Dinah beside him. "What is Diana doing here?"

Dinah bristled at the accusation, but was also, angrily, aware that she was the only logical explanation. "I thought he would be gone by now."

Hal leaned over. "Do you guys see the babe that just walked in? Bruce, dibs."

Diana's eyes finally left Clark's, but where they drifted to was almost worse. She examined Lois as closely as she was able to from afar, her careful gaze assessing what kind of woman Clark now belonged to. He wondered what she thought, and then realized it didn't matter.

Diana moved with all of the elegance she'd possessed in college, though her steps were more defined now. "Hello, Clark."

"Lois, this is Diana." Clark explained quickly. He hoped that Lois would understand what had happened, why he had slipped up, but he couldn't be sure. "I knew her in college." That was the easiest explanation for what Diana had been to him back then.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lois." Diana held her hand out. Lois hesitated for only a brief second before she accepted the handshake.

"Likewise, Diana." Lois returned pleasantly enough. She was annoyed -that was obvious to Clark- but she was curious, too. Curiosity was always stronger than anything else Lois may be feeling at any given time.

"What brings you to town?" Clark asked. It was nicer than outright asking what on Earth she was doing in that specific restaurant at that specific time on that specific day.

"I'm meeting Dinah." Diana understood Clark's silent questions, but she wouldn't give him any detailed answers. She would feel, he knew, that he didn't have a right to them. "I might have called-" he didn't believe that was true, "but my visit was short notice. I'm in town on business, actually."

"You're meeting Dinah here?" Clark fought the urge to turn accusatory eyes his friend's way. She had known what he had planned tonight for Heaven's sake! Why would she have thought it a good idea to have Diana, of all people, meet her here?

"Yes, and her friend Zatanna." If Diana realized that this bit of information did not sit well with Clark, she did not care. "I should go find them, actually." To Lois Diana said, "Again, it was very nice meeting you." To Clark Diana said, with a soft and near imperceptible strain to her velvet voice, "Enjoy the rest of your evening."

Dinah and the rest of Clark's friends had sat and watched the scene unfold with morbid fascination.

"I didn't know Clark would end up taking so long to propose." Dinah said softly. "If I had, I never would have asked Diana to come to the restaurant."

"It's all right." Bruce nodded towards Diana when the host pointed to their table. Diana's jaw line tensed at the sight of him. Clark had received him in the essential custody battle of graduation. To some degree, he'd won Dinah as well. "They couldn't avoid each other forever."

"Did I miss something?" Hal asked loudly. He hated so much when he felt left out of the loop.

"You knew her in college?" Clark forced his attention back to Lois and her scathing look.

"Yes." He didn't explain how, not really. "She was close to Bruce and Dinah."

"She seems like Bruce's type." Lois mused. Clark understood Lois's train of thought -a rich girl with beauty and a handsome playboy- she just wasn't right. It was a rare occurrence for the woman.

"They were just friends." Clark said. "It surprised me to see her because it's been so long. Last I heard, she had moved back to Greece after graduation."

"She's got good timing." Lois shifted closer to him and leaned down, plucking the box from his hand. She opened the lid without asking. "It's beautiful, Smallville."

"Is that a yes?" He smiled hopefully. Shaken as he was to see Diana, he had been in the middle of a proposal when she'd arrived. It was an important night for Clark, the most important of his life. Later, he would wonder which event specifically had truly marked it as the most important night of his life.

Lois slid the ring onto her finger. "Yes."

Diana had quite a few questions for Dinah, but none she particularly cared to ask in front of Bruce Wayne.

Dinah stood to embrace Diana as she neared the table. "I'm so sorry." The blonde whispered quickly. "I didn't think you two would end up running into each other."

"It's fine." Diana answered softly. She didn't want to think too much about her unwanted reunion with Clark. As Dinah moved away, Diana turned her attention to Bruce.

"Nice to see you again, Bruce." She said coolly.

"You, too, Diana." He nodded her way. "You look incredible. Are you in town on business?"

"I am." Bruce was hard to read after so many years apart. She couldn't tell what he thought of her, of seeing her again after everything. Instead of spending time trying to solve the puzzle that was her old friend, she turned to face the black haired girl and the handsome man with a wide smirk. "I'm sorry; I should have introduced myself. I'm Diana Prince. I knew Dinah and Bruce in college."

"Hal." The man stood and reached over the table to take her hand in his. "Hal Jordan. It is so nice to meet you, Diana."

She returned his smirk now. Hal Jordan was most certainly a notorious flirt, and he liked what he saw where she was concerned.

"I am Zatanna." The girl with black hair shoved Hal back into his seat. "I've heard so much about you. It's nice to finally meet you face to face after all of these years."

"Likewise." Zatanna and Bruce had been an item for the first two years of college, the first committed and the second in an open relationship. They had broken up the summer before junior year, but their friendship remained in tact. Diana never met Zatanna, but the girl's name was always in the air. "I-"

A cheer towards the front of the restaurant paused Diana's statement. She turned around, looking as everyone else did, towards Clark's table where he had taken Lois into his arms and bent down to kiss her. She wore a ring on her left hand now.

"She said yes!" Hal exclaimed. "I'll be damned. Our little farm boy is getting married."

After so much time, the pain Diana felt should not have been so intense. It was a sharp feeling in the center of her chest, strong enough to steel her breath for a long moment.

"Diana?" Dinah placed a hand on her shoulder. "Would you like to get drinks now? Zatanna and I are done."

"Drinks," Diana smiled, "would be divine."


End file.
